


And I Wanna Leave You Satisfied

by wvrlyearp



Category: Wynonna Earp (TV)
Genre: Does it count as major character death if they're already dead?, F/F, Gen, Pining, nicole is a lifeguard and it's GAY, summer fling!au, title is from a walk the moon song, well willa is just plain ol' dead in this fic sorry folks
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-07-16
Updated: 2016-08-03
Packaged: 2018-07-24 09:06:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 8,169
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7502451
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wvrlyearp/pseuds/wvrlyearp
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The Earp Sisters go back to their old summer home in Purgatory, and Waverly falls hard for local lifeguard Nicole Haught.<br/>"Of course, where there had once been 5 Earps there were now two. After her mother left, they had stopped going every summer. After her father and Willa had died, they had stopped going at all. The Homestead had lay vacant for over ten years.<br/>Ironically, it was death that brought them back."</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Oh, I Miss the Comfort (Of This House)

Chapter 1: Oh, I Miss the Comfort of This House

 

Waverly had barely even remembered that they still owned The Homestead. They had used to go every single summer, making the long trek down to Purgatory in a car stuffed to the brim with sundresses and plastic shovels to spend long, sticky days at the beach or sprawled on the slatted floors of the house, heads perched on elbows in front of open books. To her, the house meant sand in between her toes and ground into her scalp for days on end. In her memory, everything was large there. The stairs were dark and steep and the beds had to be clambered into, sometimes with the helping hand of  a big sister. The living room was dominated by her father’s big chair, where he had sat laughing his big laugh and drinking a beer. Her mother’s lap was the centerpiece of the couch. 

Of course, where there had once been 5 Earps there were now two. After her mother left, they had stopped going every summer. After her father and Willa had died, they had stopped going at all. The Homestead had lay vacant for over ten years. 

Ironically, it was death that brought them back. 

For years, Waverly had kept the number Wynonna had given her to call “in case of emergencies” tucked in the back of her sock drawer. It was tattered and torn and worn at the edges from all the times she had almost called it, and taking it out she could remember some of the worst parts of the last 6 years. But Curtis was dead and Waverly couldn’t stop crying and she needed her big sister to come and tell her everything was gonna be okay. And maybe it wasn’t gonna be okay, because she only had two people left in her life. And maybe it wasn’t gonna be okay, because she kept thinking of the look of pride that Curtis had had on his face as she gave her valedictorian speech at her high school graduation just weeks before. And maybe it wasn’t gonna be okay, because one of the only constants in her life was gone forever and even though he wasn’t technically related to her, Curtis was some of the only family Waverly had left. So maybe it  _ wasn’t _ going to be alright. But she needed to be told that it would be. 

Her hands shake as she dials the number, and the tones that her phone makes as she dials seem almost too loud. She takes a deep breath and holds it in as the line rings. Once, twice, three times, and she’s afraid Wynonna won’t pick up. 

_ Come on come on come on _ , she mutters under her breath, tapping her foot on the ground with agitation as the line rings a fourth and a fifth time. Finally, she hears a pause as the line is picked up and her sister’s voice fills her ear. 

“Waverly?” Wynonna asks, sleep and confusion evident in her voice. It’s suddenly clear to Waverly that Wynonna’s probably not in the same timezone as her, that she’s woken her up, that she shouldn’t have called in the first place. She wants to hang up, but knows she can’t. 

“Wynonna,” She replies, wincing at the crack in her voice, “I need you to come home.” The words tumble out of her mouth before she has a chance to think of the consequences but it’s the truth. She  _ needs _ Wynonna. She’s been trying not to cry, trying to keep it together. For Gus, if nothing else. At the sound of her sister’s voice, tinny over the phone, likely from thousands of miles away, she breaks down. Wynonna doesn’t have time to respond before Waverly’s sobbing into the phone, choking over her words as she tells Wynonna everything. About Curtis and the sudden heart attack that took his life. About how Gus has been crying but how she pretends she isn’t when Waverly comes into the room. She even tells her about her breakup with Champ, which seems so stupid but once she’s started talking she can’t seem to get herself to stop. By the time she’s exhausted both her emotional energy and all of the information she can find in her head, she’s sure she’s been talking for hours. There’s silence for a moment and Waverly’s suddenly afraid that Wynonna hung up. That she isn’t interested in Waverly or being a part of her life or hearing her cry or making things better. She hears Wynonna clear her throat once, quietly. 

“Waverly?” Wynonna says, the sleep gone from her voice but the confusion and concern still evident. 

“Wynonna.” She replies again, because there’s nothing left to say. 

“Waves, I’ve bought a ticket on the next flight home. I’ll be there tomorrow morning.”

Waverly sniffles pointedly into the receiver, taking a moment to process the news. 

“Really?” She asks, her voice sounding far too small and timid for her own liking. Suddenly she’s 12 years old and watching from the window as her big sister takes off for good. But then again, Wynonna’s never been one to keep all her promises. It’s not that Waverly was bitter that Wynonna hadn’t written on her birthday or visited once a year like she had said she would when she left, but she wasn’t exactly ready to get her hopes up either. She could picture exactly the way the conversation would go if Wynonna cancelled. “Something came up” she would say, “I’ll make it up to you”, she would promise. 

“I promise.” She replies, her tone soft in a way that indicates she may actually, for once, be feeling some remorse. Waverly blinks back more tears as she makes a slight noise of affirmation into the phone, wiping her nose on a sleeve. 

“Waverly?” Wynonna asks again, softly. There’s a vulnerability in her voice that reminds Waverly of a time when Wynonna was a scared kid, just like her. 

“Yeah?”

Wynonna doesn’t respond immediately, she sighs into the phone once and it almost seems like she’s been holding in her breath. 

“I’m sorry.”

Waverly nods, sniffling again. 

“I know.”

\---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Wynonna keeps her promise this time and shows up just before noon in an outrageous pink car that hardly seems suited for the road. Waverly’s almost surprised that Wynonna’s learned to drive while she herself has always avoided it, but not quite. Wynonna always was the more resilient of the pair. She feels like a kid again as she dashes down the stairs and flings open the door to crash herself into Wynonna’s arms. She smells like cheap liquor and airport and gasoline, but it’s all so  _ Wynonna _ that Waverly can’t help but deeply inhale the fabric of her sister’s cotton shirt. It’s strange to find her face not buried in Wynonna’s chest but instead tucked into her shoulder and she notices that she’s a lot taller than she had been the last time they embraced. Her big sister doesn’t seem quite so big anymore. 

“Hey, kid.” Wynonna says, pulling away to look at Waverly as she ruffles her hair slightly. Waverly feels herself smiling for the first time in days as she stands in the sunlight with Wynonna’s hands firmly on her shoulders. 

“God, look at you! You’ve gotten so big!” Wynonna laughs, punching Waverly lightly in the shoulder. Waverly squints into the sunlight as she lets Wynonna pummel her into another embrace before letting her go and looking at her again. 

“And beautiful too, huh?” Wynonna teases, pinching one of Waverly’s cheeks. She rolls her eyes fondly, slapping Wynonna’s hands away with little force. 

“C’mon Wynonna,” Waverly whines, dodging away as her sister tries to pinch her cheek again. Just as Wynonna is trying to wrassle her into a headlock, presumably so she can noogie her to death, Gus emerges from the house and suddenly Wynonna is all business. Waverly didn’t really know all of the details of what Wynonna had done to get herself kicked out of their home and into the system, she had been told she was too young to understand, but she knew that Gus didn’t trust Wynonna, even though she was an adult now. They nodded at each other curtly and Wynonna was invited inside the house, raising her eyebrows at Waverly as she pushed past through the doorway. 

It’s around the dinner table that night when Wynonna first brings up the idea of going to Purgatory for the summer. It’s a little awkward sitting at the table with Wynonna in the seat that had always been occupied by Curtis, and it’s mostly silent except for the sound of forks scraping against plates. Gus clears her throat as she lays her utensils carefully across her plate. 

“So, how long are you in town Wynonna?” she asks carefully, pretending to be interested in her nail beds. Wynonna clears her throat awkwardly, folding her napkin and placing it on her lap. 

“I actually meant to ask you about that.” She says, turning her attention towards Waverly. “I thought maybe Waves and I could go to Purgatory for a few weeks. Check up on the old beach house, you know?” She asks anxiously, maintaining eye contact with Waverly, who nods. Gus, (who has never thought that anything Wynonna has suggested in her life) nods as well. 

“Well,” she says, giving a little smile to Waverly, “I think that’s a fine idea.” 

Wynonna beams, obviously surprised that she doesn’t have to argue with Gus for permission. Of course, Waverly’s 18 now. She could make her own decisions, technically. But it  _ was _ nice to have the approval. She gives Wynonna a little thumbs up. 

It’s settled. 

So that’s how it ends up that Waverly spends the whole night packing, shoving nearly every article of clothing she owns into suitcases that Wynonna drags up from the basement. That’s how it ends up that she spends one night with Wynonna sharing her bed and how they wake up with the sun to pack the car. Gus makes them sandwiches for the road and hugs them both and they’re off. 

Wynonna drives too fast. Waverly clenches her fists until the half moons of her nails bite into her palms, and she wonders if she’ll ever get over her fear of driving. She almost wants to ask Wynonna to slow down, but she doesn’t want her sister to think she’s weak. She spent so much of her life being the baby, but she didn’t want Wynonna to see her like that anymore. She was an adult now, sort of. They were both  _ sort of _ adults. And she could handle this. Sort of. 

Next to her, Wynonna is telling some story involving a biker bar that she’s only half listening to as she watches the landscape whipping by the window. It’s surprising to her how much she recognizes, even this far from Purgatory. She thinks back to the long rides she had spent in the back of a hot car with Willa and Wynonna, sandwiched between them in the backseat. Being the youngest had meant that she always had to go in the middle. Even though Willa and Wynonna liked each other better, they both also liked the extra legroom that not being crammed in the middle allowed them, and since Waverly was desperate to gain their approval anyway, she gave little resistance. 

“Waves?” Wynonna calls her name, glancing over at her briefly. Waverly really wishes she would keep her eyes on the road. 

“Yeah?” Waverly responds, ripping her eyes away from the window to make fleeting eye contact with her sister. 

“You seemed far away. Everything okay?”  Wynonna’s eyes keep flitting from the road to her sister, and her gaze is laced with concern. Waverly nods. 

“Everything’s fine.” She replies, hating the lack of confidence she can hear in her own voice. There’s a pause in the conversation for a moment as Wynonna fiddles with the radio dial, finally finding a station she likes. Her eyes are set firmly on the road again and Waverly breathes a sigh of relief. 

“It’s allowed to not be.” Wynonna says in that tone that Waverly’s heard her take too many times over the last few days. The one that sounds like she’s afraid Waverly might break. The pitying one. Waverly swallows thickly. 

“I know,” she says, trying to not let her slight agitation seep into her voice but fearing that it does, “but everything is fine.”

Wynonna cocks her head slightly and shoots back an “okay” that makes Waverly feel like Wynonna thinks she’s a liar. Maybe she is. She can’t really decide if she’s okay, not when so much has changed so fast and she hasn’t had a real say in any of it. She’s not sure if she believes in fate or coincidence or god even, but she can’t help but feel like this isn’t all happening for a reason. Stuff just  _ happens _ right? Bad stuff keeps happening over and over and there’s nothing she can do about it. If there is a god of any sort, they really have it in for her. 

She turns her attention away from thoughts of the great unknown and back to the window, resting her head against the rattling pane and feeling the low rumble of the car reverberate in her chest. She closes her eyes for just a moment, just to re gather her thoughts. 

When she wakes up , they’re turning into a familiar gravel driveway and the crunch of the ties is near deafening as she rubs the sleep from her eyes. As they readjust, she takes in the sight of The Homestead. The garden out front has been overtaken by weeds and the mailbox is missing and there’s a few boards missing from the front porch, but other than that it looks mostly the same as she remembers it. Okay, maybe it looks a little derelict, but it could be a lot worse. At least all the windows are still intact, at least in the front. They sit in the car in complete silence for a moment before Wynonna kills the engine and removes the keys from the ignition. 

“Home sweet home, huh Waves?” Wynonna asks with a grin, moving to open the car door as Waverly does the same. Stepping out into the sunlight, Waverly squints up at the house. 

“Yeah,” she says, scowling into the sun, “something like that.”

\---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The inside of the house is dusty and damp, but it’s still exactly the same as the way they left it. Waverly walks around the living room, skimming her hands over the surfaces of the furniture and blowing the fine bits of dust that collect on the pads of her fingers into the air. The whole house smells vaguely of basement, so she and Wynonna have been going around and cracking all the windows open, which ends up taking a considerable amount of cajoling. She’s thrown open all the curtains in the living room and a dusty sunbeam warms the wood of the floor under her feet. There are grains of sand in every nook and every cranny of the house, swept aside hastily before they had left the house for what had turned out to be the last time. As Waverly passes by the coffee table, she picks up a picture frame, wiping ever more dust from the glass surface. 

It’s an old photo, from back when things had been sort of good. She sits on her mother’s lap, a grin on her face as Willa and Wynonna sit in the sand next to them, arms wrapped around each other and sopping wet hair soaking wet patches into the large tshirts that they both wear. Wynonna beams into the camera with a gap-toothed smile. The photo looks like it may have been from their last summer all together, but she knows her father never would have framed it after her mother left, so she supposes it must be from the summer before. Her eyes drift briefly over to the ghost of her eldest sister. She wonders, briefly, what Willa would have looked like as an adult. In the photo, she’s all sharp features and a closed-mouth smile. She looks like their mother. Just as Waverly goes to set the photo down carefully, there’s a sharp knock on the front door and she nearly drops it. 

She figures Wynonna must have gone out to the car for something and locked herself out, so she goes quickly to open the door, surprised when she sees Wynonna at the top of the stairs, looking down at her inquisitively. Wynonna shrugs at her and gestures to the door, so she opens it carefully, peeking her head outside to see who their visitor might be. Her face breaks out into a grin when she sees who’s standing outside the door. He’s grown a mustache, and his hair is long and pulled back into a ponytail under a baseball cap, but it’s unmistakably him. 

“Well, well, well. If it isn’t a sight for sore eyes,” Doc says, pulling her quickly into a hug, “I never thought I’d live to see a day where there were Earps back at The Homestead.”

Waverly laughs, glad to see an old friend again. Doc Holliday was their summertime next door neighbor. He was a few years older than Wynonna, but the two had always been thick as thieves when they were children. Most summer days could find Doc and Wynonna prowling around town together, a funny sight to see with their considerable height difference, getting into ten different kinds of trouble. Often times sundown would see both of them dragged back to The Homestead by the collars of their t-shirts, matching shit-eating grins on both of their faces. 

The second Wynonna realizes who’s at the door, she’s rushing down the stairs and throwing the door the rest of the way open to make the hug a group one, throwing her arms around both Waverly and Doc with a smile on her face. When she finally relinquishes and the trio separates, Waverly is smiling more than she has in months. 

“You look terrible.” Wynonna says to Doc, punching him in the shoulder. She gestures to his face, indicating his facial hair, “What the hell is that?”

Doc laughs, grabbing her punching arm and pulling her into a one armed hug again, 

“And you don’t look too bad yourself.” He replies, opening his mouth to say something more when Wynonna reaches up on her tiptoes to make a grab for his baseball cap, successfully liberating it from where it’s perched on his head. This starts a playful wrestling match that takes them both out into the yard, scuffling as they take turns getting each other into headlocks and tackling each other to the ground. Waverly smiles and leans up against the door jamb quietly, watching as the two old friends reunite in the only way they know how. Waverly watches as they have a quick conversation out of earshot of her before Wynonna runs back toward the house while Doc runs in the opposite direction to his own home, looking just like a child. Wynonna grabs Waverly and pulls her inside the house, shutting the door. 

“Come on Waves, we’re hitting the beach!” Wynonna says with childlike glee, already halfway up the stairs. Waverly shakes her head with another smile. Maybe this is home. 

It takes a while for both Waverly and Wynonna to dig their bathing suits out of their suitcases and get changed, and by the time they’re ready Doc is sitting pleasantly on their porch in his swim trunks and the hat which he’s stolen back from Wynonna . Together with towels in hand they take the short walk to the nearest beach, a small but popular spot called “Sheriff’s Point”. It’s late afternoon and the beach is mostly empty except for a few families of bored looking parents and over-excited kids, probably locals. Doc leads them over to a vacant spot and sets down his towel in the sand, already reaching to take off his shirt when Wynonna rolls her eyes and suggests they move. Doc, who has already toed off his shoes and thrown his hat on the ground, immediately challenges her idea, saying that it’s a perfectly nice spot. Wynonna glares at the lifeguard’s chair next to them. 

“I don’t want to be right next to the lifeguard,” she says with a jab of her thumb, “they ruin all the fun.” 

Waverly glances over at the lifeguard in question and her breath almost catches in her throat. It’s not like she believes in love at first sight, and she’s  _ definitely _ not looking for a rebound. Not this summer. But the lifeguard is, like, astonishingly beautiful. Her long legs are crossed over one another as she gazes out at the water, and she has this beautiful red hair that’s done up in a tidy braid. Waverly knows she’s way out of her league, and she’s definitely not gonna talk to her, but she doesn’t want to move too far away from the girl anyway. Waverly turns to Wynonna and gives her an eyeroll that matches her sister’s. 

“What, by saving your ass from drowning? C’mon Wynonna don’t be ridiculous.” Waverly says nervously, plopping down in the sand. Doc gives her a grin, taking off his shirt the rest of the way and taking off towards the water, calling a hasty “Last one in’s a rotten egg!” over his shoulder. Waverly stays where she’s seated, happy to take the title of rotten egg if it means avoiding the likely freezing cold water for a few minutes so she can heat up in the sun. She watches as Wynonna takes off after him, shedding articles of clothing all down the stretch of beach as she struggles to catch up. As they meet at the shoreline, Wynonna tackles Doc from behind, knocking him into the water. _ They really are like children _ , Waverly thinks to herself, wiggling her bare toes in the warm sand. After a few moments of sitting alone on the beach, she reluctantly goes to take off her clothes, first taking off her shorts before attempting to take her shirt off in the most attractive way possible, in case the hot lifeguard is watching. 

She grabs the hem of her shirt and has it halfway over her elbows when she hears a slight tearing sound as she tugs, her arms folded over on top of one another over her head. She realizes with horror that she’s  _ stuck. _ Well and truly  _ stuck _ in her own shirt, and practically naked from the waist down. She gulps, trying to disentangle herself from her shirt fruitlessly. She knows she could try to shout for Wynonna, but her sister is probably too far away for her to hear her from where she is and she’s not interested in trying to blindly stumble down the beach with a shirt over her head. It’s a good thing they sat down near the lifeguard

Resigning herself to complete and utter embarrassment, and likely a life alone as a crazy cat lady, Waverly squints her eyes and calls out. 

“Um- Miss… lifeguard-lady?” She says, feeling herself blush. 

“Yes?” A voice from her right calls out, and  _ god _ even this girl’s  _ voice _ is attractive. Just her luck. Waverly sighs deeply. 

“Um… I’m stuck. Could you… maybe?” she says, trying to indicate as best she can that she needs assistance getting out of her shirt. She hears a sharp bark of laughter next to her and then the sound of feet hitting sand as the lifeguard jumps down from her post. A moment later, she feels somebody step into her space with a quiet laugh as warm hands carefully grab the fabric of her shirt. Waverly struggles slightly as she tries to help the girl get her shirt off of her, and is met with another giggle. 

“Let me help you, I gotcha.” the lifeguard says as she finally removes Waverly’s from her fabric prison. Waverly can feel a hot blush creeping up her neck as her shirt is handed back to her. 

“This little troublemaker…” Waverly says awkwardly, wagging a finger at her own shirt,  _ like an idiot. _ The lifeguard laughs, likely out of pity, and sticks out a hand. 

“I’m Nicole,” she says, smiling brightly, “Nicole Haught.” 

Waverly groans inwardly, sticking out her hand and shaking Nicole’s. Of course her last name was “Hot”, Wynonna would never let her live this down if she found out she was into her. 

“And you are…?” Nicole asks, taking back her hand. 

“Waverly,” she replies, suddenly feeling like she should supply a last name as well, “Waverly Earp.”

Nicole nods, turning her attention back to the shoreline. 

“Well, it’s nice to meet you, Waverly Earp,” she replies, cocking her head towards her lifeguard’s chair, “but duty calls.” Waverly nods and indicates her shirt again. 

“Thanks,” she says, “for… you know. I owe you one.” She adds hastily, trying her best to give a charming smile. Nicole gives her a look that’s almost appraising, then smiles confidently. 

“How ‘bout you buy me a cup of coffee sometime?” 

Waverly nods. 

“Sure, I can bring one here? Maybe?” she offers, finally dropping her shirt in the sand. Nicole shakes her head, still smiling. 

“I’d prefer if you got one with me,” Nicole says, still grinning, “I get off here at six tomorrow.” She supplies, hopping up into her chair. She slides a pair of sunglasses on. 

“Don’t be late.” She says with a final glance over at Waverly, who still feels like her whole face is blushing. She gulps. 

“Six tomorrow it is!” Waverly replies brightly, feeling a twinge of panic ignite in her chest. Feeling like the interaction is over, Waverly finally makes her way down to the water’s edge, where Wynonna is in the water up to her chin. 

“What took you so long?” Wynonna shouts, splashing water towards her sister. Wavelry shrugs, dipping a toe in the water. 

Wynonna may be in chin deep in the freezing cold water, but Waverly’s pretty sure she’s in even farther than that for one Nicole Haught. 

 


	2. little pieces of your life you keep (so close to your chest)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Casual coming out! Earp sister antics! Introductions! No actual date yet because I'm a fraud!!!  
> (Chapter title from Magic Man's song "Waves")

It was strange trying to sleep that night in a bed that she hadn’t slept in since she was a child. When she had entered the room, the sight of her old bed with the pink bed sheets had made her feel like she was swallowing glass. It hurt to think of how much she had grown up, how much she had been  _ forced _ to grow up, after that last summer. When she thought hard about it, she supposed that sleeping in this bed in this tiny, unwanted room at the top of the house represented the last time she was really allowed to be a child. Waverly sits on the bed her head perched on her knees, suddenly very awake, and lets her mind wander to her interaction with Nicole at the beach. She knew that she had a crush on Nicole, that much was clear to her (and likely to Nicole, knowing her track record with being overly obvious about that sort of thing). She just hoped she hadn’t ogled too hard. 

It’s not like Waverly had never  _ noticed _ another girl before. She had certainly always thought that other girls were beautiful. And sure, if she was being honest maybe it was true that she had occasionally, in the privacy of her own room on an incognito browser, watched some lesbian… content. So yeah, maybe she was a little bit… something. She groans out loud to herself, unsure how she’s managed to somehow get herself into some kind of a date situation with a hot lifeguard way out of her league when she’s not even sure how she identifies. Her head snaps up as Wynonna knocks brusquely on her door, calling out her name. 

“Yeah?” Waverly replies, trying her best not to sound too distressed. 

“Can I come in? I wanted to come in but I heard groaning and I want to make sure you’re not-” Waverly makes a semi-disgusted noise at what Wynonna is insinuating and gets up the fling open the door. 

“Not that, Wynonna.” 

Her sister is grinning smugly at her with her hand still poised to knock on the door again. Rolling her eyes, she steps back to invite Wynonna into her room.

“You’re gross.” Waverly says, sighing as Wynonna flops down on her bed. Wynonna tosses her pillow at her.

“You love me.”

Waverly does love her sister, more than anybody else in the world. Even though she’s let her down a few times, Wynonna’s the best person she has left in her life. But she’s not about to  _ tell  _ her that. She throws the pillow back at her instead, laughing when it lands squarely on her face. Wynonna simply takes the pillow and slides it under her head, folding her arms under her head on top of it. 

“I can’t sleep in there.” She says as explanation as she lies on Waverly’s bed. Waverly should have expected as much, really. The room that Wynonna had used to sleep in was also the room that  _ Willa  _ had used to sleep in. She couldn’t imagine sharing a room with a ghost. Their parents room was equally as unbearable, likely. Besides, it had always been off limits anyway. It would feel wrong to trespass in there. Waverly nods, going to collect her things for bed. 

“I’ll just take the couch then, I guess.” She walks over to the bed to collect her pajamas from where she’s left them at the foot of the bed and Wynonna grabs her arm, pulling her onto the bed with her. 

“Waverly, I’m not kicking you out of your own bed.” Wynonna says, throwing an arm over her sister. “We can just share it.” Waverly groans and tries to escape from Wynonna’s grasp but fails. Her sister is the worst to share a bed with. She hogs the covers and always tries to push Waverly out of the bed. Waverly’s also pretty sure she has an involuntary foot twitch in her sleep. But Wynonna’s back finally and she doesn’t want to share a room with a ghost and Waverly really doesn’t want to sleep on the couch, so she relents. 

After convincing Wynonna that she has to change before going to sleep she manages to crawl into bed next to Wynonna who’s already hogging more than her share of the bed and who is also already ⅔ of the way asleep. As Waverly tries to get comfortable on her side, Wynonna throws an arm over her, immediately making her “oof” out a breath of air as she nearly falls off the bed in surprise. 

“So,” Wynonna says sleepily, “are you gonna tell me about how the hot lifeguard got you flustered, or am I gonna have to guess?” 

Waverly immediately balks, sitting straight up in the bed and taking Wynonna’s arm with her. Her sister laughs at her wide eyed expression as she sits up fully in the bed. 

“You knew?” Waverly asks incredulously, scrunching up her face. This is  _ so  _ not how she imagined coming out to her sister. 

Wynonna rolls her eyes, 

“Of course I knew, she helped you take your shirt off. Nice move, by the way.” She continues, putting her hand up for a high-five, which Waverly rejects. 

“It was  _ not _ a move. I really got stuck.” Waverly whines, thinking back to the embarrassing moment when she had realized that she was well and truly entangled in her own shirt. She goes red in the face just thinking about it as Wynonna finally realizes that she isn’t getting a high five back and claps her hand down on her sister’s shoulder. 

“Still,” Wynonna insists “Not a bad way to introduce yourself.” She grins as Waverly groans again, letting her head fall into her hands. 

“You’re right,” she replies, “It’s not a bad way to introduce myself. It’s a  _ horrible  _ way to introduce myself!” Waverly cries out, swatting at Wynonna’s hand which is still sitting heavily on her shoulder. 

“She’ll never think I’m cool now.” Waverly grumbles into her palms, voice laden with despair. 

“Waves, nobody thinks you’re cool,” Wynonna says in mock comfort, “It’s not your  _ thing. _ Cute is your thing, cool is mine.”

“You’re not cool.” Waverly reminds her sister, shifting so her chin is in her hands. Wynonna grins. 

“I am cool. I’m the cool _ est _ .” She insists. “Besides, how badly did your interaction go? Did you get her name at least? Her number?” Wynonna pesters, nudging Waverly’s shoulder. 

“I got her name,” Waverly replies pathetically, “It’s Nicole. Nicole Haught.” Wynonna, much to Waverly’s chagrin, immediately bursts out in laughter. The kind that lasts for minutes and leaves her with tears at the corners of her eyes. She sits there indignantly, trying her hardest not to admit that it is a little bit funny. She won’t give Wynonna that satisfaction. After Wynonna’s laughter has died down and she’s wiping the tears from her eyes, she turns back to Waverly, trying to hold back another bout of giggles. 

“So you didn’t get her number then?”

Waverly furrows her brow, deciding whether or not she should tell Wynonna about the coffee date she has with Nicole tomorrow. 

“No, I didn’t.” Waverly responds honestly, fidgeting with the edge of the sheet. “But I may have a sort of maybe coffee date with her tomorrow?” She rushes out all in one breath. Wynonna shakes her head and laughs again. 

“Damn Waverly, you have more game than I thought you did!” She replies, slapping her baby sister on the back roughly. Waverly smiles slightly but goes back to her melancholy state almost immediately. 

“But Wynonna, we’re only here a few weeks. I don’t have time to- to fall in love!” Waverly bursts out, voicing a concern she had barely even considered yet. Wynonna quirks an eyebrow. 

“Nobody said anything about falling in love, Waverly.”

It’s honestly a thought that’s never really occurred to her, the whole hook-up thing. She knows that other people do it all the time, that they have fun and don’t attach feelings to things, but she’s not sure she can do that, the no feelings thing. She’s a very feelings-y person. She furrows her brow, about to respond when Wynonna reaches over her to click off the light on the bedside table and throws herself back down on the mattress.

“Either way, you should get your beauty sleep.” Wynonna teases, and Waverly eases into a horizontal position, lying flat on her back and fully aware she’s not quite ready for sleep. She’s silent for a moment before speaking up again.

“Wynonna?” She asks, a hint of worry seeping into her tone. Her sister makes a groan that sounds something like a response and Waverly takes a deep breath. 

“So you really don’t mind that she’s a… I mean- that I  _ like _ a-” Waverly trails off, almost afraid to ask.

“What? A lifeguard?” Wynonna responds, rolling over so she’s mimicking Waverly’s position. “I was just joking about that Waves, as long as I can still run on the beach you can date-- or rather  _ not date _ ,” she adds, nudging Waverly with her elbow, “as many lifeguards as you want.” 

Waverly squirms slightly, “That’s not what I meant,” she replies, shaking her head, “I mean… you really don’t care that she’s a  _ girl _ ? that  _ I’m _ -” Waverly swallows thickly, “Not… straight?” Wynonna leans up on an elbow next to Waverly.

“What? No, dude, of course not! You really thought I’d care about something like that?” She responds almost angrily, but seemingly more hurt than anything else. Waverly shrugs weakly. 

“Some people do.”

Wynonna shakes her head, crossing her arms behind it again. 

“Waverly, I know I’ve let you down before and I know that was wrong but…” Wynonna takes a deep breath, “I’m here for you now, okay? For whatever. No matter who you like or  _ date _ or whatever. I’m your  _ sister _ and I love you.” She sighs, glad that she has the feelings off her chest but somewhat uncomfortable in the heavy silence that follows. Set on diffusing the tension, she mutters out “ _ Gay _ verly Earp, unbelievable,” into the dark of the room and receives a weak punch and a laugh from Waverly. 

So maybe it’s not exactly how Waverly imagined coming out to her family, and she’ll definitely have to clarify with Wynonna at some point that she’s pretty sure she’s bi, not gay. But still, it went better than she could have ever imagined, really. Waverly rolls over onto her stomach, the way she actually sleeps, and doesn’t protest when Wynonna flings an arm over her again. She’s asleep within minutes. 

\---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

She accidentally wakes up too early the next morning, something she has a tendency to do when she’s nervous about something, even if it’s happening much later in the day. She slides out of bed as carefully as possible, which isn’t too hard considering the fact that Wynonna has practically pushed her out of it anyway. They’re really going to have to figure out a different arrangement. 

Picking her way down the endlessly creaky stairs, Waverly decides that she may as well try to keep cleaning up the house a bit. If she can keep her hands and her mind occupied, maybe the next few hours will pass quickly. She glances at the clock and corrects herself internally, maybe the next eleven and a half hours until her sort-of-date with Nicole will pass  _ moderately _ quickly. 

She goes to the kitchen and flits around, getting out all the dishes and hand washing them before placing them carefully back in the cupboards. She cautiously throws out the ancient cans of food that sit derelict in the pantry, mentally noting to herself that they’ll have to do a big grocery shop soon. She organizes all the books in the living room and straightens the couch cushions 4 or 5 times. And it’s only 9 AM. She still has seven hours before her maybe-date with Nicole and she’s already ready to chew her nails down to the nub with anxiety. At around 10:30, Wynonna stumbles down the stairs and into the kitchen where Wynonna hears her opening and closing all the cupboards before she pokes her head into the living room where Waverly’s still sitting. 

“We’ve got no food.” She grumbles, leaning heavily on the doorframe. Waverly gives her an apologetic shrug as Wynonna comes to sit heavily next to her on the couch. 

“I say we go raid Doc’s place,” She says, taking out her phone, presumably to text him, “Nice job on the bookshelf by the way.” 

Waverly forgets sometimes how observant her sister can be, but she nods her thanks and waits for Doc to text Wynonna back. 

Somewhat begrudgingly, he lets them eat all of his cereal and waits patiently while they get ready before they all head to the beach again. Doc, Waverly muses, really is a good guy. 

She’s somewhat dismayed when she drags Wynonna and Doc over to the lifeguard’s chair where Nicole had been the day before and finds that she doesn’t seem to have arrived to work yet. Instead there’s a man, maybe around Wynonna’s age, sitting stoically in the lifeguard’s chair with a pair of sunglasses perched almost pretentiously on the end of his nose. He’s not wearing a shirt and Waverly has to admit that he’s quite attractive, although she still considers herself partial to yesterday’s lifeguard. She wonders if there’s some sort of hotness quota that one has to pass before being allowed to be a lifeguard. Some sort of Baywatch-scale. 

The new lifeguard seems to have caught Wynonna’s eye however, and she stands next to Waverly not-so-subtly ogling him, quirking an eyebrow at Waverly when she notices her watching. Waverly raises her eyebrows back silently before taking off her shirt and settling down in the sand with a book, hoping to get some sort of a tan. 

Only a few minutes into their beach outing, Wynonna and Doc get scolded by the lifeguard for what he refers to as “roughhousing” and Wynonna seems to lose all her manners, rolling her eyes aggressively and huffing a grumpy “Whatever.” and dragging Doc closer to the water’s edge. Waverly grimaces. 

“Sorry about that,” She says to the lifeguard next to her, putting on her best 1,000 watt smile. She looks back to where Wynonna and Doc are still being rowdy 50 feet down the beach. 

“She’s my sister,” she explains, “She’s a little… like that sometimes.” Waverly continues awkwardly, standing up so she can extend a hand to the lifeguard. 

“I’m Waverly, by the way.”

The guy keeps his eyes trained on the shoreline, refusing to shake her hand. 

“Dolls.” He replies monotonously as Waverly relinquishes her hand and lets it fall awkwardly to her side. She scrunches her nose a little at his flippant behavior and sets herself back down in the sand again to flip through a novel she had brought with her. 

After probably about an hour of shoving her toes in the sand, pretending to read, and trying to subtly glance to see if Nicole’s arrived at the beach yet,  Waverly finally turns to see Nicole swiftly picking her way through the people on the beach to approach the lifeguard’s chair. Waverly pretends to be engrossed in her book, not wanting to be caught watching. She feels a shadow pass over her as Nicole comes and stands next to her, letting out a casual “Hey, Waverly.” As she makes her way over to replace Dolls on shift. Looking up from her book, she gives Nicole her brightest smile and tries to pretend that she wasn’t waiting for her. 

She continues to stare vacantly at the page of the book as Dolls berates Nicole for being 2 minutes late to her shift before he jumps down from the chair and leaves. Nicole stays leaned up against the side as she watches him go, her bright red shirt contrasting against the stark white of the wood. 

“So that Dolls guy,” Waverly says, trying to sound nonchalant, “what’s his deal?”

Nicole smirks and shakes her head a little. 

“He’s my boss,” she explains, squinting at Waverly slightly, “Head lifeguard. He just…. Takes his job very seriously.” 

Waverly makes a face.

“He really is a good guy.” Nicole defends, obviously aware the Waverly has some distaste for his attitude. Nicole laughs again. 

“Good book?” She asks with humor in her tone. Waverly flounders for an answer, seeing as she hasn’t actually read any of it. 

“Uh… yeah. It’s great!” She says, nodding her head. Nicole turns away from her and starts to climb up into the chair, still smiling. 

“You must be some talent, being able to read upside down like that.” She says pointedly, cocking her head towards Waverly’s book. She tears her eyes away from the lifeguard and takes a moment to actually  _ really _ look at the book propped open in front of her. Which is absolutely upside-down. She groans softly and lets her head fall in the sand as she hears Nicole chuckle to her left. 

Nicole will absolutely  _ never _ think she’s cool. 

\---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Over the course of the next few hours, she watches as Nicole saunters up and down the beach to keep an eye on the patrons, a distinctive swagger to her walk. She wears authority well, with her shoulder’s set back and her firm but kind gaze almost never faltering as she speaks to families by the shore. Waverly actually does read a couple of chapters of her book and eventually goes for a swim with Wynonna after many minutes of teasing and prodding. 

As she walks sopping wet back to their towels with her sister, she’s stopped by a hand on her arm from her sister as they cross paths with Nicole, who gives Waverly a thumbs up. Feigning innocence, Wynonna says, more loudly than necessary, 

“Well Waverly, who’s your new friend?”

Waverly shoots her sister a look and hopes that Nicole hasn’t actually heard Wynonna, but whips her head around to find Nicole walking back towards them. Waverly gives Wynonna a tight smile which says “I’m gonna kill you later” but turns to Nicole with a more neutral expression on her face. 

“I don’t believe we’ve met,” Nicole says, sticking out a hand in greeting. Wynonna takes her hand and shakes it just a little bit too aggressively. 

“This is Wynonna,” Waverly says through her teeth, shooting a scathing glance at Wynonna, who smiles pseudo pleasantly, “my sister.”

Nicole returns Wynonna’s smile and pulls her hand from her grasp. 

“I’m Nicole.” She responds, bobbing her head slightly. Wynonna’s grin is unwavering as she replies. 

“What was your last name again?”

Waverly moves to subtly stamp on Wynonna’s toes and gains a brief noise of shock and a glare from her sister before Wynonna is all smiles again. Waverly is  _ really _ gonna kill her. 

“Haught,” she replies, furrowing her brow slightly at Waverly with a look of mild confusion on her face, “Nicole Haught.”

Wynonna nods as Waverly silently fumes next to her. 

“Nicole  _ Hot _ , of course!” Wynonna replies, putting far too much emphasis on the last name, “Well, it’s lovely to meet you.”

“You too,” Nicole says, the confusion still evident in her voice she looks from Wynonna to Waverly and raises her eyebrows. Waverly shrugs in resignation. 

“Well, I’ve gotta go,” Nicole says, cocking her head towards the lifeguard’s chair, “See you later Waverly?” She adds as she starts to walk backwards towards her post. Drawing herself out of her funk, Waverly responds with a thumbs-up and an actual genuine smile. 

“Yeah! See you later, Nicole.”

The lifeguard turns around and saunters back to her chair. Waverly tries to pretend she’s not watching her butt, but she totally is. After a moment she turns to Wynonna who’s quietly chuckling to herself. 

“Well, she seems nice.” Wynonna jokes, leaning her head on Waverly’s shoulder, who promptly shakes her off. 

“I am going to  _ kill _ you Wynonna!” Waverly fumes, scrunching her nose up at her sister. Wynonna grins.

“Only if you can  _ catch  _ me!” She shouts, taking off towards the water at full speed. Waverly is almost tempted to not go after her, but she does, tearing off towards Wynonna as fast as she can, her heels kicking up clouds of sand as she runs towards her sister and finally tackles her onto the ground by the water’s edge. 

Dolls probably would have called them out for roughhousing. Nicole just squints at the shoreline and smiles, pretending not to notice. 

Eventually, Waverly notices with her heart in her throat, five o’clock rolls around and Nicole gives her a knowing look as she hops down from the lifeguard’s chair for a final time that evening. Waverly clambers to her feet awkwardly and smooths her sandy shirt as best she can as Nicole comes and stands next to her. 

“I’m just gonna change out of this hideous shirt,” Nicole says, pulling at the offending garment, “and I’ll meet you in the parking lot, okay?”

She gives Waverly’s upper arm a light squeeze and she feels butterflies erupt in her stomach. Waverly nods as coolly as she can and watches, again, as Nicole walks away. She gives one final glance to Wynonna, who’s obviously watching her from the spot on the sand where she and Doc are unironically building a sandcastle. Her sister gives her a thumbs up and mouths what Waverly believes to be “Go get ‘em, babygirl” before nudging Doc and probably explaining the whole situation to him. Waverly returns the thumbs up and takes a deep breath. 

She walks towards the parking lot, noticing Nicole already standing there waiting for her. She’s changed into her own clothes and Waverly’s never seen her out of uniform yet and she almost gasps at how well Nicole seems to pull off wearing a simple tank top and shorts. A small backpack is slung over her shoulders and she fiddles with the straps as she watches Waverly walk towards her, finally coming face to face. 

“Hi.” Waverly says awkwardly, looking up into Nicole’s warm and kind eyes.

“Hi.” Nicole replies, smiling at her again in that way that makes Waverly’s heart kind of want to explode. 

“I didn’t bring a change of clothes,” Waverly blurts out awkwardly, looking at her own rumpled attire. Nicole keeps smiling at her. 

“That’s okay,” she says softly, “You look beautiful.”

Waverly splutters out a thanks as best she can and Nicole reaches for her hand. 

“Come on, I know a great place for you to buy me a coffee.” She says, leading Waverly through the parking lot by a hand that she hopes isn’t too clammy. She holds her breath. So maybe it is kind of a date. And maybe she’s kind of really okay with that. Maybe.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Honestly I'm not sure about how well i'm capturing the character's voices u kno so it would be rad if i could get some feedback or something?? Either here or on my tumblr @wvrlyearp tbh.   
> thanks for reading folks

**Author's Note:**

> Let me know what you thought either in the comments or on my tumblr @wvrlyearp!  
> I love this AU and any ideas or headcanons you have regarding it would be more than welcome tbh!!!  
> Work title is from "Come Under the Covers" by Walk the Moon


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